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Day 13: The Mist; I really liked this movie when I first saw it, and I still dig it, but I must say it is dating badly. Never been a huge CG fan, it really does date poorly. The survival themes and the microcosmic feel of the grocery story are pretty cool. THe survival/ apocalypse theme, epspecially with zombies, has been a popular theme days, it's interesting to compare say, Walking Dead (which shares many actors), to this film.

Day 14: Silent Hill: Revelation; This had a high rating on my VOD, as high as Casablanca, or Nosferatu. That was probably not a good thing because I actually had hope that this might actually be that freaking good. It was okay. Some cool imagery, but ultimately quite vapid. Just one creepy set or scene after another with no plot (which you know isn't that bad, half the euro flicks from the 70's were that), but it also didn't havbe much for actual terror or impact on the characters. Decent, but by the end it just felt like another video game movie.

Re: Halloween challenge

I haven;t actually seen the first one, I did play the first game way back when it came out and the second a bit. My friend was over and wanted to watch it. Good to know the first one might be better, I actually picked it up one DVD a month or so ago and hadn't got around to watching it yet.

Re: Halloween challenge

Day 15: Cat's Eye; I'd seen this one once before last year, when I was on a anthology kick, lately I've been on a Stephen King kick. It's not too scary really, I'd almost call it a children's horror movie if it wasn't for the first segment making reference to rape and torture. Each segment has it's own tensions, and charms, and it flows rather well. It's a fun movie over all.

Re: Halloween challenge

^Cool I'll have to check it out. I have been meaning to read the book.

Day 16: Trick r' Treat; It had been a while since I had seen this film, and it's just as good as I remember it. Great stories, nicely woven together, and great traditional special effects. Solid acting all around. It doesn't pull any punches but isn't over the top with gore. One of the best anthology horror movies, right up there with Creepshow. It even has that comic book feel. I don't know why they never made a sequel.

Basket Case; I wasn't paying to much attention to it at the time, but I have seen it once before. Man, does it stink. The acting is terrible, and I swear half the dialog is screaming. The deformed siamese twin is pretty hilarious though. It floats somewhere between so bad it's good and just so bad.

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Day 17: The Prowler; This is a pretty standard slasher. Some over the top kills, some nudity, some gore, almost no plot. It suffers from some pacing issues, with almost all of the action in the beginning and end, with a lot of seemingly pointless or drawn out scenes. The SFX are amazing, which isn't surprising considering it's Savini at the helm. The last gunshot is truly mindblowing.

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Day 18: Suspiria; I love this movie, no matter how many times I have watched it, it doesn't get old. It's a perfect mix of light and shadow and abstract sets, influenced by the egerman expressionist films, and the use of prominent colours to create a tense and surreal atmosphere. Add to that one of the best soundtracks in film, very driving and tense, even unnerving. Plus a good share of gore and violent scenes and a supernatural plot. It has all my favourite things in horror films. This is why Argento, along with Cronenberg is my favourite horror director. Carpenter comes in a tight second.

Re: Halloween challenge

^^^Watched it recently too and damn this is one of my top films ever, the images are so damn good. Argento rules, H3ll, look what he's given us, aside his movies, the oh so damn lovely and cute and gorgeous Asia.

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Day 19: Daughter of Horror; This is an interesting somewhat experimental flick. It's mostly silent, other than the narrator occassionally showing up, or the sound of shrill laughter. The film is made in 1955, and seems quite a head of it's time in themes. Focusing on an abused woman, who has snapped. It's quite feminist especially for it's time. It has a very expressionist feel, not dissimilar from other noir films from its era. A little more gore than it's crime contemporaries, and little more surrealism and insanity too. Overall a great flick for a quick watch, it's only about an hour long.

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Day 20: Carrie (2013); It was a decent remake/re-interpretation of the book. They try to modernize it by adding the social media aspect, but really it's almost thrown in as an after thought. I am not opposed to trying to make it more relevant. I think the director should have explored that aspect more. The cast is great, but something about the directing left me wanting. Nothing on the Depalma adaptation, but in some ways truer to Stephen King's original novel.